SUNDIAL SECTIONS:

Sundials Home

History of Sundials

Why the Sun Dial keeps time

Developing and Making Sundials

Sundial Materials

Sundial Hour Lines Lay out

Sundial "Furniture"

Declination Lines of Sundials

Portable Sundials

Interesting Sundials of the World

HOW TO DESIGN AND MAKE A SUNDIAL - Page 7

These are made on medium weight cardboard. They may be bought in two sizes, one with an eight inch circle graduated in half degree or thirty minute spaces; the other has a fourteen inch circle graduated in quarter degree or fifteen minute spaces as shown in Figure 19. These protractors are far better and more accurate than any other type sold at the same price or in some instances for ten times as much. A celluloid protractor of sufficient size to be useful and comparable with the above mentioned cardboard variety is a very expensive instrument. When using a protractor, always draw lines long enough to extend beyond the limit of the protractor. A large protractor will minimize errors. Figure 20 demonstrates the successive steps in laying out an angle with the cardboard instrument; in this case, an angle of 42°30'. With our latitude known and the hours laid out, we can continue with the construction of the sundial shown in Figures 15, 16 and 18. A medium soft piece of lead twelve inches square and one quarter of an inch thick was obtained from a hardware store at a cost of twenty cents. The careful drawing of the design was placed on the lead plate and held firmly in place while the extremities of the lines were pricked into the metal with the sharp point of a round ice pick found in the kitchen table drawer.

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